I'm Jewels, founder of travelJewels and dedicated to helping you live a full & intentional life through travel. On this site you will find detailed travel guides and tips focused on first-hand experiences.

Enjoy!

Self care is about nurturing your mind, body, and soul. It essentially comes down to doing what makes you feel good and balanced. At first glance, it may seem that talking about "self care" and travel is unnecessary. After all, travel can be viewed as a form of self care (it is definitely a way I nurture my soul). However, a lot of time, energy, and money goes into trip planning and trips themselves. Practicing self care is vital to be able to mentally and physically enjoy traveling. Here are my go-to self care practices that I treat myself to before, during, and after traveling:

During your travels have you ever experienced any of the following: jet lag, nausea, itchy mosquito bites, muscle aches and pain, headache, respiratory infections/common cold, or the bubble guts aka. the preclude to diarrhea? If you haven't, please tell me your secrets! However, I'm confident that most of us have experienced these health issues while traveling. While we can grab over-the-counter medicine, Mother Nature provides us with natural remedies that give immediate relief to the above health issues and many more.

As much as I LOVE traveling, it can take a toll on your body. Jet lag, exposure to sick people (i.e. bacteria circulating through the plane's A/C), environmental toxins, even breaking out of your normal routine - all can mess with your health and ruin your precious vacation. Unfortunately, I have been sick while abroad more times that I would like, from recurring flu-like symptoms when I was studying in South Africa to stomach viruses in Thailand, and a few things in between. Fortunately, from being sick so many times, I've learned essential strategies to help you stay healthy during your travels (things that I've gotten better at over the years). I'll go over these strategies in a 3-part series in the upcoming weeks.